First UK-wide referendum in over 35 years delivers a "No" to changing the UK Parliament voting system

First UK-wide referendum in over 35 years delivers a "No" to changing the UK Parliament voting system

News release published: 07-05-2011

Jenny Watson, the Chief Counting Officer and Chair of the Electoral Commission, the independent elections and referendum watchdog, announced the result of the first UK-wide referendum in over 35 years at 1am today, Saturday 7 May.

In response to the question: "At present, the UK uses the ‘first past the post’ system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the ‘alternative vote’ system be used instead?". The number of votes cast in favour of "Yes" was 6,152,607 and the number of votes cast in favour of "No" was 13,013,123.

Announcing the result, Chief Counting Officer and Chair of the Electoral Commission Jenny Watson said: " I'd like to thank all the Counting Officers and their staff for their work over the past weeks and months, preparing for the elections and this referendum, staffing polling stations on Thursday and counting the votes."

ENDS

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Notes to editors

The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UK’s democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections and are responsible for the conduct and regulations of referendums held under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000). More details on our role in a referendum can be found here: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/referendums